


Hurt

by AvatarNataku



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance, envy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-16 16:34:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2276862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarNataku/pseuds/AvatarNataku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which Asami Sato is not the rich heiress she is in the series. In fact, she is an orphan with a clouded past.</p><p>Asami attends high school at Western Shores high school, where she is a loner and an outcast with a serious crush on Mako, the school's resident hottie and bad boy.<br/>Things are set even more impossible as Korra, the most popular girl in school is after Mako's sexy bones</p><p>She longs for him in secret, but what happens when one afternoon Mako is stuck in the library with her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was 6:00 am and a melodic ring could be heard drifting about the cramped little apartment.  
A yawn broke through the alarm clock's sound, and it was silenced.

Asami opened her large green eyes and looked around, hoping that the sun was still safely tucked behind the eastern horizon, but she frowned upon seeing the hinting dawn.

"Ugh... Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday." She moaned as she stretched in her small bed, finally working up the resolve to get up.  
She shuffled about, getting ready for the day, doing her long black hair into its customary bun. She slipped on her school clothes, which today would be a white t shirt and some black jeans. After pulling on her sneakers, she looked into the mirror and shrugged.

"Not too bad." She said, rubbing some lotion on to her hands. She looked at the screen of her tiny flip phone and quickly grabbed her backpack and coat before heading to school. 

She raced down the steps of her apartment building, and smiled at whichever passers by she happened to encounter.

"Ahh... She sighed as the fresh October air wrapped itself around her body.  
"At least it won't be so hot on my way back to school." She mused as she watched the sky above her, streaked with beautiful puffy clouds.

Finally, she walked into her school, Western Shores. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath as she made her way quickly up the concrete steps of the building that were lined with people of all walks of life, just there, taking it easy, laughing and joking.  
She hated coming to school, but she knew that she had to do well if she wanted to get out of that tiny cramped apartment someday. She had goals and one of them was proving to herself that she was perfectly capable of getting out of the bleak situation she found herself in. So she trooped through each day at school, mostly ignored by her classmates. She didn't mind...  
She liked it that way.  
She liked keeping to herself, studying and glued to her books, absorbing as much as she could from the pages...  
She looked all around the patio, and a group of kids caught her eye, it was Tahno and his clique who were causing general unrest by being loud and obnoxious.  
She rolled her eyes again when she heard a loud belch that echoed through the large main hall.

"Eww." She breathed as the crowd erupted into laughter.  
She quickly pushed her way through the crowded halls to run toward the gym.  
Just her luck to have P.E during her first period.  
She burst through the doors quickly and marched towards the center gym and was relived to be the first one there. She sat near the bleachers in the far corner of the gym and pulled out her new book she had just borrowed from the library days before and adjusted on her earbuds, making her small mp3 player tune her favorite song.  
It was called The Chairman's Waltz from a movie called Memoirs of a Geisha, one of her favorite movies.  
It reminded her or herself to a certain extent...  
And just as the song began, she lifted her gaze up, and was met with the most pleasant sight...  
In he walked with that confident strut, his hair messy yet completely under control.  
She looked at the way his lean muscles rippled through his white shirt, making her throat tighten and her face feel a few degrees hotter.  
He stretched just as his younger brother Bolin ran in after him, followed by more students.  
Just as she was observing him roll his shoulders, he shot the breifest of glances in her direction.

"Oh!" She gasped, lowering her gaze and covering her face with her book.  
Mako. Mako the boy that sent her heart a flutter and filled her thoughts.  
Ever since the first day of school, she couldn't help but feel drawn in by his gorgeous gold eyes, and that sly grin. The fact that he was so athletic and strong only worsened her infatuation.

"Alright people, line up!" Yelled their gym teacher suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts.  
She quickly put away her things and joined the ranks, all the way at the end of the line.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Mr. Ghazan." They all said in unison.  
Asami's eyes wandered to the handsome boy that was about four people away.  
She smiled at the sight of the back of his head, feeling giddy but also slightly creepy.

"We're gonna start volleyball this week, so today all we're gonna do is practice forms and proper technique, got it?" Yelled their teacher.  
Everybody grumbled, but said nothing as their teacher made his way towards the closet where nets and poles and volleyballs were stored.

"Change out people, come on." He said.  
Everybody made their way into the locker rooms and began to get ready.  
Asami quickly got into her T-shirt and shorts, and emerged first out of the girls, just as Mako emerged from the boys locker room.

Asami did her best to not smile, but it was so hard... Especially as he looked in her direction for the second time that day and gave her a tiny polite smile.  
Asami felt her knees wobble slightly, but managed to offer him a smile back, just as everybody flooded the floor.  
The rest of the period went by in a blur, Asami tried her best to pay attention but her mind kept wandering back to that smile...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in Mako's arms would have been Asami's dream come true... So why is she mortified?

Asami wasn't sure why, but she woke up that Friday with a strange, knotting feeling in her stomach.   
She tried to replace the strange feelings that were swarming all around her with the memories of that charming, lovely smile that Mako gave her the day before.

Ah, yes, that helped.

She chided herself for being so easily swayed into calming down just by thinking of the man that gave her butterflies, but quickly wrote off the feeling of being just a tiny bit hopeless, and instead focused on getting to class on time.

This time when she got to the gym, she was surprised to see that Mako was already there with his brother Bolin and to her chagrin, Korra.  
She chanced a quick glance at the trio, and cursed her luck when just at the very same moment Korra shot a glance in her direction.  
Asami snapped her gaze away, but she knew that it was too late. Korra and Bolin both caught Asami looking, and they cocked their eyebrows at each other.

Ugh, Korra. Ms. Perfect herself.  
She was the captain of the school's cheerleading squad, and last year she was voted most popular in school, and was pretty much the prime candidate for homecoming Queen.  
To make things even more annoying, Korra seemed to have a thing for Mako going.  
Asami chanced another look in their direction and clenched her teeth tightly together in disbelief when she saw Korra bending down seductively with the lame excuse of picking up her pompoms in front of Mako.  
Asami tore her gaze away and bit back the surge of jealousy when she saw that Mako clearly noticed what Korra was doing and seemed to delight in her deliberate ploy for his attention.

"Look who's here boys, miss awkward herself." Said Korra at the brothers. Bolin took a quick look in between his stretches, and Mako ignored the comment altogether, instead focusing on his pull ups.

"Heh! Ms. Awkward, oh Korra, that was a good one!" Said Bolin, offering Korra his best grin.

"Thanks Bo..." Said Korra, winking at the muscular Junior, and secretly relishing in the way his cheeks lit up in a blush.

"Ugh, look at her, always off in a corner by herself … What a freak." Said Korra, beginning to stretch along with Bolin.

Just then, Mako released the metal rod that he was using for his pull ups, and rolled his shoulders forward.

"So what if she likes to be alone… I don't see how that makes her a freak Korra. " said Mako, wiping off small beads of sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.

"Because she's always just there staring at people, yet she doesn't talk to anybody… That's pretty freaky to me." Defended Korra, making absolutely sure that her voice didn't crack because of Mako's surprising reaction.

"I have to agree with Korra bro. That girl is pretty weird… But it sure is funny watching her trying to play sports!" Said Bolin, nudging his brother in the ribs with his elbow. Korra giggled at Bolin's hilarious observation, and poked him in the ribs.

"Yeah, remember last week when she tried to play basketball? Oh man, that was the funniest thing in the world, I swear I couldn't stop laughing when she stubbed her own toes when she was dribbling the ball." Laughed Korra, loud enough so that Asami would be able to catch what she was saying.

Asami looked down at her book and pulled it close her face, to hide the embarrassment that was surely already showing on her face. She wished that she would be able to say something back, but the more she thought about it the more she realized that while she had many valid and possibly hilarious points to say about Korra, it wouldn't matter. Korra had practically the entire school backing her. Asami? Why, she didn't even have any friends in the place.  
It was best to just pretend she didn't just hear those hurtful comments. Instead, she put on her ear buds, and lost herself in her music.

"Whatever, she's never messed with any of us. Just leave the little loner alone Bolin, I mean it. And why are you so catty Korra? That's pretty lame if you ask me" Said Mako, taking a drink of water from his bottle and walking to the middle of the gym and sitting down to wait for their teacher.

"Mako? Why are you being so sensitive today?" Teased Bolin after his brother, following him to the center of the gym.

"I'm not. I just don't see the point in being an asshole to somebody I've never even talked to. I have much more important things to worry about aside from picking on some girl."

"Sheesh, calm down captain do-right." Mumbled Bolin, taking his seat next to his brother.

"Don't call me that." Sighed Mako, making Bolin grin apologetically at his brother.

Korra looked down at the floor and pouted after hearing what Mako had to say.  
How dare Mako defend that weirdo! And especially from her! There was no way Korra would let that slide… Korra looked at the slim girl with her hair in a bun and narrowed her eyes at the girl, when suddenly a strange malicious glint overtook her gaze, accompanied by a sly, almost mischievous grin.

"Uh… Korra? You okay?" Asked Bolin when he looked Korra's way.

Korra grinned at the brothers, and nodded.

"Of course I'm okay Bo. Never better." She said as she picked up her small backpack off the floor and walked over to where the brothers sat.

"Oh, okay Korra." Said Bolin, smiling at his friend.

Just as they settled on the cold polished floor of the gym, their teacher Ghazan and the female teacher P'Li walked into the chilly gym, and behind them, most of the other students followed.  
Ghazan blew the whistle, and Asami took that as her cue to put everything back in her book bag, and get into formation along with the rest of her classmates. 

"Alright everybody. Now, since yesterday we went through the basics of volleyball, today obviously we're gonna get right down to it. I'm gonna choose four captains, and you four are gonna choose five people each. Korra, you're first, Mako, you're second, Tahno, you're third and Opal, you're fourth." Said Ghazan, and each of the captains he called lined up in front of the rest of the students, and surveyed them all.

"Go ahead and start choosing, captains." Ordered Ghazan.  
Asami's stomach began to churn uncomfortably… she hated when it was time to pick teams, because since she was so well-known for her deplorable athletic skills, she would always be picked last. Every. Single. Time.

Predictably, the four captains kept looking her over as they picked. Asami bashfully looked down at her shoes, wondering which one of them she would end up with.

"Korra, pick. Asami or Jin?" Asked Ghazan. Korra looked between the two girls, and grinned at Asami. 

"Jin." Said Korra, and the girl skipped to her new team.   
Asami bit down on her lip, and grimaced.   
"Alright, Asami, you're on Mako's team." Mako looked at his new teammate, and nodded coldly at her. Asami tucked her long bangs behind her ear and walked over to her new team with her head down, not daring to look up at Mako. To say that she was embarrassed would be an understatement, she was mortified about being the default reject on Mako's team. 

"Korra, you're up against Mako, Tahno, you're up against Opal. Get to a net guys!" Yelled Ghazan as the teams spilt and walked over to their respective nets. Ghazan blew the whistle, and everybody began to play. The room burst to life with the sounds of people slapping volleyballs over nets, of laughter and yelling from all students, except for Asami who was just trying to keep from getting hit with a ball.

"Heads up!" Yelled a boy on Korra's team, and a ball flew right past Asami's face. She jumped slightly, startled by the sudden jolt. The people on her team grumbled and made mean comments under their breath.

"Asami, keep your eye on the ball." Said Mako as he got into position once again.

"Yeah, if you see a ball coming towards you, just hit it!" Said his brother Bolin.  
Asami blushed, but kept her composure as she nodded at Mako.

From the other side of the net, Korra narrowed her eyes at the green-eyed girl, and suddenly a chilling smile curved her lips as she saw how inept she was around the ball.  
It was Korra's turn to serve the ball, and the dastardly idea that wormed into her mind became clearer and clearer.  
She served the ball, and in a flash Mako was there to hit it back, and the ball flew back to Korra's side, where another girl hit it back. Bolin lined himself up with the incoming ball, and smoothly returned it to Korra, who saw her perfect opportunity for revenge against the unknowing green eyed girl. Korra knew that Ghazan was in the back retrieving spare nets. She grinned, and spiked the ball with every ounce of strength in her body, which sent the leather orb barreling right toward Asami.

Asami looked helplessly on as the seconds stretched into an eternity before she braced herself for the inevitable sting of leather that would land somewhere on her body, but all she heard was a sharp slap, and everything went black.

 

The gym went silent as Asami's body crashed onto the polished floor, and all anybody could do was stare in silence, until a lone strand of mean laughter began to fill the room.   
Mako looked away from Asami, his golden eyes fixed themselves on Korra as the laughter began to multiply thoroughout the gym, until it was a full on fanfare all around. Mako's eyes flashed with irritation at everybody in the room, and he rushed to Asami's side, surveying the damage. Already he was able to see an angry redness and slight swelling surround her left eye.

"What the hell is the matter with you Korra? She could really be hurt!" He yelled at Korra, who ignored his words and continued to laugh along with everybody.  
Mako knelt next to Asami and brushed aside her long bangs as he gently began to shake her.  
"Asami? You okay? C'mon, wake up." He whispered, feeling a sense of relief wash over him as Asami managed a tiny moan in response.

"Asami? Can you hear me?" He tried once again, shaking her gently.

"Ugh, chill out Mako, its no big deal!" Said Korra as she eyed Mako comforting the weird girl.

"Shut up Korra, this is serious!" Said Mako, and just then he heard a strangled groan escape Asami's throat.

"Asami? C'mon, say something."

"Huh? Ohhh… My head… Wha-?" Said Asami as she tried to open her eyes, fighting with herself to see what was going on.

"Hey, you okay?" Mako said, patting Asami's forehead. 

"Wha-? Huh? Mako?!" Said Asami, her eyes finally opening wide as she came to her senses and felt like the world came crashing in all around her when she realized she was on her back, with Mako hovering above her, just inches away from her face.  
She almost felt like giggling when she thought about how many times she imagined Mako like that, but never in a million years did she think she would be in that situation.  
Mako looked at the bewildered girl beneath him, and felt a twinge of awkwardness tug at him as Asami stared at him wide eyed.

"Hey... You okay?"

 

"I… I don't know… Ow…" She said, placing her hand over her eye, pain now becoming very strong and very real.

"Step aside! Move it! What's going on here?!" Demanded Ghazan as he made his way toward Asami.  
Hearing her teacher's voice made Asami realize that everybody was staring at her, most of them still giggling at her misfortune.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Asked Ghazan, kneeling besides Asami, pushing Mako away in the process.

"What's going on Ghazan?" Asked P'Li, running towards them.

"This one got hit pretty bad…" He said, but Asami couldn't stick around to hear the rest of their conversation, not when she had regained enough sense to see what a fool she looked like.  
She summoned all of her strength and ran as fast as she could to the locker room, holding in her sobs that ached to escape.

"Asami!" She heard Mako and Ghazan call after her, but she didn't look back, not when she was about to burst out crying.   
She reached the locker room, and let out a harsh sob as she doused herself in cold water from the sinks, hoping that her eye wouldn't swell too badly.

Everything began to replay in her mind, and she couldn't hold back her tears as she gently rubbed her eye with cold water.

This was definitely not a good day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, but I hope you like it anyway! 
> 
> Thanks for reading you guys!

"What happened here?" Demanded to know Ghazan as he looked with demanding eyes at his students. For the most part the giggling had stopped, even Korra had settled down as soon as she saw her teacher get so angry.  
When nobody spoke up, Ghazan looked over at P'Li and bade her to approach.

"Hey P'Li, would you do me a favor and go check on that kid? I don't think she's badly hurt, but I would feel better just making sure she's alright."

The tall woman nodded and shot a look at the room full of students, shaking her head and turning her back on them.

"Sure, I'll be right back." She said as she walked away.  
Ghazan turned his attention back at his class, and asked once more.  
When nobody would say anything, he sighed in frustration.

"You know, the fact that none of you are willing to say anything only makes me think that whoever did this did it on purpose with the hope that Asami would get hurt. Am I right?" He said, and was once again met with silence.

"Alright. Since nobody wants to tell me what's going on, I guess I'm just gonna have to suspend volleyball and make you guys do boot camp all week." He said, and immediately everybody in the room began to moan and whine about it.  
Mako shot a deadly glance at Korra, and went over to her.

"Korra, just tell Ghazan it was an accident. He knows how clumsy Asami is, you won't get in trouble!" He said.  
Korra frowned and crossed her arms over her ample chest.

"Ugh Mako, what's with you today? Afraid of a little boot camp?" She teased.

"That's not the point Korra! I don't wanna pay for your broken dishes, nobody does! Just tell him, damn!"

"Yeah Korra. I mean, I don't wanna do bootcamp if I can play volleyball instead." Said Bolin, offering his opinion.

"Yeah, hurry up Korra, just tell him, we'll back up your story." Added Tahno.  
Korra rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry at her friend, and waved at her teacher.

"Mr. Ghazan, no need for that. I was the one that spiked the ball, but its not like I meant to hit her. She just stood there and didn't do anything." Said Korra, rolling her eyes.

Ghazan looked at Korra through narrowed eyes, and then at the rest of the class.

"Is that true?" He asked. Everybody nodded and Ghazan shrugged.

"Alright. I guess we'll just keep playing volleyball. Thanks for speaking up Korra, and let this serve as a lesson for everybody. Be careful or you could seriously hurt someone." He said to the entire class.

"Yessir." Everybody said.

"Mako, you're a person short, you wanna keep going like that?" Asked Ghazan. 

"Yeah, that's okay. Asami wasn't much help anyway, we've got this." He said.

Mako served the ball, and continued to play, but the whole time he kept wondering how Asami was.  
Poor girl.  
Mako didn't particularly care, but seeing a girl cry really tugged at his heartstrings.

"I hope you're okay." He thought.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Asami? You alright in there?" Asked P'Li as she entered the locker room looking for Asami.  
Asami dried her face off with a paper towel and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be okay." She said, hoping that her teacher wouldn't be able to tell just how much she had been crying.

"Your eye looks terrible Asami… Get to the nurse's office and get some ice on that eye." She said, taking out a notepad and writing her a slip so that she would be able to leave.

"Okay… Thank you Ms. P'Li." She said, taking the slip and gathering her belongings.

"Take the whole period if you need to. Okay? And be careful." 

"Thank you so much Ms. P'Li… I can't go back there… Not like this." Said Asami.

"No problem kid. See you tomorrow." 

And with that, Asami dashed away and toward the exit.  
As she got close to the gym, she chanced a look in, and saw them continue playing on as if nothing had happened.

"Figures…" She sighed.


End file.
